Remarkable structural and magnetic properties of nickel-zinc spinel ferrites synthesized by refluxing method

Sanele Dlamini; Amos Nhlapo; Thomas Moyo

doi:10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100602

Remarkable structural and magnetic properties of nickel-zinc spinel ferrites synthesized by refluxing method

Sanele Dlamini, Amos Nhlapo^*, Thomas Moyo

^*Corresponding author for this work

Medical Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The structural and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrite system Ni_0.36Zn_0.64Fe_2+zO₄ (z = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10) synthesized by the reflux method were thoroughly investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure, with crystallite sizes ranging from 8.20 nm to 11.3 nm. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) revealed semi-spherical nanoparticles. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) analyses indicated a type IV isotherm, characteristic of mesoporous materials with relatively high surface area. Electron density maps showed enhanced electron density at B-sites and around Zn ions, with moderate displacement of oxygen positions within the unit cell compared to Ni and Fe sites. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements at room temperature revealed superparamagnetic behavior of the nanoparticles, with high saturation magnetization. The coercive field decreased monotonically with increasing excess Fe ions, while remnant magnetization exhibited correlation with saturation magnetization. A strong correlation between saturation magnetization and crystallite size was also observed.

Original language	English
Article number	100602
Journal	Next Materials
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100602
Publication status	Published - Jul 2025

Keywords

Electron density
Magnetization
Raman spectroscopy
Spinel ferrites

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10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100602

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title = "Remarkable structural and magnetic properties of nickel-zinc spinel ferrites synthesized by refluxing method",

abstract = "The structural and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrite system Ni0.36Zn0.64Fe2+zO4 (z = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10) synthesized by the reflux method were thoroughly investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure, with crystallite sizes ranging from 8.20 nm to 11.3 nm. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) revealed semi-spherical nanoparticles. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) analyses indicated a type IV isotherm, characteristic of mesoporous materials with relatively high surface area. Electron density maps showed enhanced electron density at B-sites and around Zn ions, with moderate displacement of oxygen positions within the unit cell compared to Ni and Fe sites. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements at room temperature revealed superparamagnetic behavior of the nanoparticles, with high saturation magnetization. The coercive field decreased monotonically with increasing excess Fe ions, while remnant magnetization exhibited correlation with saturation magnetization. A strong correlation between saturation magnetization and crystallite size was also observed.",

keywords = "Electron density, Magnetization, Raman spectroscopy, Spinel ferrites",

author = "Sanele Dlamini and Amos Nhlapo and Thomas Moyo",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Authors",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100602",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

journal = "Next Materials",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Remarkable structural and magnetic properties of nickel-zinc spinel ferrites synthesized by refluxing method

AU - Dlamini, Sanele

AU - Nhlapo, Amos

AU - Moyo, Thomas

PY - 2025/7

Y1 - 2025/7

N2 - The structural and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrite system Ni0.36Zn0.64Fe2+zO4 (z = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10) synthesized by the reflux method were thoroughly investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure, with crystallite sizes ranging from 8.20 nm to 11.3 nm. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) revealed semi-spherical nanoparticles. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) analyses indicated a type IV isotherm, characteristic of mesoporous materials with relatively high surface area. Electron density maps showed enhanced electron density at B-sites and around Zn ions, with moderate displacement of oxygen positions within the unit cell compared to Ni and Fe sites. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements at room temperature revealed superparamagnetic behavior of the nanoparticles, with high saturation magnetization. The coercive field decreased monotonically with increasing excess Fe ions, while remnant magnetization exhibited correlation with saturation magnetization. A strong correlation between saturation magnetization and crystallite size was also observed.

AB - The structural and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrite system Ni0.36Zn0.64Fe2+zO4 (z = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10) synthesized by the reflux method were thoroughly investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel structure, with crystallite sizes ranging from 8.20 nm to 11.3 nm. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) revealed semi-spherical nanoparticles. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) analyses indicated a type IV isotherm, characteristic of mesoporous materials with relatively high surface area. Electron density maps showed enhanced electron density at B-sites and around Zn ions, with moderate displacement of oxygen positions within the unit cell compared to Ni and Fe sites. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements at room temperature revealed superparamagnetic behavior of the nanoparticles, with high saturation magnetization. The coercive field decreased monotonically with increasing excess Fe ions, while remnant magnetization exhibited correlation with saturation magnetization. A strong correlation between saturation magnetization and crystallite size was also observed.

KW - Electron density

KW - Magnetization

KW - Raman spectroscopy

KW - Spinel ferrites

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DO - 10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100602

M3 - Article

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SN - 2949-8228

VL - 8

JO - Next Materials

JF - Next Materials

M1 - 100602

ER -

Remarkable structural and magnetic properties of nickel-zinc spinel ferrites synthesized by refluxing method

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